Health and Well-Being in Older Married Female Cancer Survivors

OBJECTIVES: To investigate differences between older married female cancer survivors and a matched comparison sample on physical health and on effects of health on depressive symptomatology. DESIGN AND SETTING: National survey data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study. PARTICIPANTS: Married wom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2009-11, Vol.57 (s2), p.S286-S288
Main Authors: Townsend, Aloen L., Ishler, Karen J., Bowman, Karen F., Rose, Julia Hannum, Peak, Nicole Juszczak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Age Factors
aging
Biological and medical sciences
Cancer
cancer survivors
Case-Control Studies
Depression
Depressive Disorder - epidemiology
depressive symptoms
Female
General aspects
health
Health Status
Health Status Indicators
Health Surveys
Humans
Marriage
Marriage - psychology
Medical sciences
Mental depression
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Mood disorders
Neoplasms - complications
Neoplasms - mortality
Neoplasms - psychology
Older people
Predictive Value of Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Risk Factors
Survivors - psychology
United States
Women
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Summary:OBJECTIVES: To investigate differences between older married female cancer survivors and a matched comparison sample on physical health and on effects of health on depressive symptomatology. DESIGN AND SETTING: National survey data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study. PARTICIPANTS: Married women who reported having been diagnosed with cancer (N=245) and married women who did not report a cancer diagnosis but who matched the survivors on age, race, and ethnicity (N=245). MEASUREMENTS: Outcome measure was depressive symptomatology (modified CES‐D). Predictors were multiple indicators of health and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Cancer survivors reported significantly worse health on all indicators but not higher depressive symptomatology after health and demographics were controlled. Predictors of higher depression were fatigue, pain, and lower education. These effects did not differ between groups. CONCLUSION: Health impairment in cancer survivors highlights the need for ongoing follow‐up care. Survivorship was associated indirectly with higher depressive symptomatology through its relationship with health impairment.
ISSN:0002-8614
1532-5415
DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02514.x